Summary

Janice Rothschild narrates Chapter 58 in the form of a diary entry, dated six months ago. Janice writes that she is ready to stop lying to herself: Emma was playing “peekaboo.” If Janice had stayed a little longer, she would have seen Emma remove the pillow from Charlie’s face and laugh. She opts not to come clean because she does not want to harm Charlie, but is unable to deal with what she has done to Emily, describing herself as a “monster” (326).

Chapter 59 returns to the present as Charlie relays that he confronted Janice about the diary entries. She admitted to making up the story about Emma smothering Charlie. He asks Emma if she has any memory of smothering him and suggests that this incident explains Janice’s paranoia regarding Emma taking Charlie back.

Emma spirals as she processes the catastrophic damage...